In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Allah, the Most High, the Sublime vouches for the Quran’s completeness, accuracy and Divine origin in a number of ayat in the Quran:
Verily, this Quran guides to that which is most just and right and gives glad tidings to the believers, who work deeds of righteousness, that they shall have a great reward. [17:9]
And,
Do they not then consider the Quran carefully? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein many a contradiction. [4:82]
The reader of the Quran can now consider the claim, is the Quran from God, has it been protected and perfectly preserved, does it guide to justice and righteousness? The claims themselves are necessary. Why should intelligent people contemplate on the divinity of a book that makes no such claim? Many eloquent lines of poetry, which has moved men’s hearts and persuaded their minds, have been written and yet do not claim to be divine. Many have written words of obvious truth, wisdom and foresight but make no claim to divinity. These words then must be regarded as the hand who wrote them regarded them and nothing more.
How then should we understand a book that makes this claim of divinity and also bears witness against that claim? Such is the position we find ourselves with the Bible.
Undoubtedly, the Bible purports to speak for Allah and His prophets. Even though there is no direct claim that the Bible is divine in origin (in fact the word Bible does not appear in the Bible), it makes claims about Allah’s nature, His creation and His prophets that only Allah Himself can possibly know. However, oddly, it is a witness against itself in two places.
In Jeremiah chapter 8 verse 8, we read:
How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
Adam Clarke wrote, concerning this verse, ‘The deceitful pen of the scribes. They have written falsely, though they had the truth before them. It is too bold an assertion to say that “the Jews have never falsified the sacred oracles;” they have done it again and again. They have written falsities when they knew they were such.’
The Jew was not the only to be blamed, the deceitful pen of Christian scribes has also been hard at work since the first century of the common era. Some ready examples are the interpolations of 1 John 5:7, Matthew 28:19, Mark 1:1, Luke 3:23. Even more damning is the layered composition of the four Gospels themselves. It seems as if no Christian was satisfied with the original documents and sought to correct and clarify them, resulting in a ‘final’ compilation that would scarcely be recognised by the original author. I put forward that each sect of early Christianity attempted to change these writings in order to strengthen their own sect’s position. It makes the mind wonder how these early Christians viewed the four Gospels. If they thought them divinely inspired their willingness to alter their words and meanings is nothing short of criminal and if they did not regard them as divine then what a dirty trick they played on the generations to come.
In 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, we read:
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
This verse is a test that every phrase attributed to God through inspiration must pass. It must be doctrine, which is something that is taught or advocated as part of a collective teaching. It must be for reproof, which is censuring or rebuking someone for their misdeeds. It must be for correction, which is a punishment or rebuking that intends to reform or improve. Or it must be instruction in righteousness, which is detailing righteous behaviour meant to be emulated.
I cannot see any mistake in the above verse or in its meaning but it does beg us to ask where does Judges 16:1 fit in?
Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.
Is it Christian doctrine that when I man visits a place and sees a whore that he has sex with her? Is there any reproof or correction present in the verse, or the ones before or after? Is this an instruction in righteousness? Will pious Christians be rewarded for emulating Samson’s behaviour? With 2 Timothy in mind (or not) how can such profane and pointless words be attributed to God?
Where does the pornography of Genesis 38 fit? I will not reproduce the chapter here, however, any interested party can read it here. Be warned that it is a smut story filled with sex, incest and whoredom, which in the end produces one of the descendants of Jesus according to Matthew. Yes, according to the Bible, David, Solomon and Jesus, may the peace and blessings of God be upon them, are the sons of incest and whoredom. Read the chapter and tell me where it fits in the above test of 2 Timothy. Answer how such profane words can be attributed to God and please tell me how on God’s earth Christians can teach that filth to their children.
If a book creates a test to determine the divine status of text and fails that same test, one can only regard that book as man-made and not in any way divine.
